I don’t tell her what it was like to wake up and find Sophie curled up beside me, one hand clutching the blanket like she was trying to pull it up, the other resting on my leg.
I don’t mention how much I liked listening to her read to me.
How much I missed not seeing her, even though it was only for one day.
I don’t want to tell Fenella any of that, because that means I’d be admitting it to myself.
I’m not admitting anything to myself, least of all anything about Sophie.
FEN: She says you play games. She reads to you.
ME: I fell asleep when she was reading to me. And then she did too.
FEN: You take naps together! You sound like a couple
ME: We’re not a couple.
FEN: I have naps with Silas on the weekend.
ME: That’s because you’reexhausting.
After my nap, I run into town. After that, I hang out with Gunnar for a while.
We go to the gym, we have dinner with the king. I drink some very nice wine.
We don’t talk about Sophie or Stella, or any of the Laz family. Duncan doesn’t join us for dinner, which is a good thing.
It’s a nice evening, but something feels off.
Maybe it’s the thought of Sophie, a few floors above, entertaining people I don’t know. Talking about books. Laughing and having fun without me.
If it’s possible to have fun talking about books.
Sophie seems to think it is.
But being under the same roof, and not being with her is a strange sensation. I know it’s a big castle, and my feeling like this might be a prelude to a jealous snit, but there’s something pulling me to her.
I shouldn’t want to go to some stupid book club meeting, but I do.
So after dinner, I make my excuses, and I climb the stairs to Sophie’s room, with a quick stop to mine first.
I’ve made the trip so many times in the last few days, my footsteps should be etched into the stone floor.
The sound of laughter greets me, and I push open Sophie’s door without knocking. A group sits in a semi-circle before the fire, with Sophie in the middle on the couch. I count five out of the six castle cats in the room, lured by comfortable laps or the scent of the cheese platter on the coffee table.
The group is younger than I expected, and there are two men.
Is one of them Martin?
The thought that he is here with Sophie, has me pushing open the door. “Hello?” I call over the next burst of laughter.
“Ashton!” If Sophie was able, she would have jumped to her feet. Instead, she sits upright and looks over at me with the biggest smile on her face.
The smile does something to my stomach. Something… pleasant.
“You came,” she says, and motions me inside. “Everyone, this is Ashton Carrington. He’s the one I told you about who’s never been to a book club. I told him to stop by to see what goes on.”
“We’re almost finished with our discussion,” one of the women says with a rueful smile. There are four women—three with grey hair and one who looks the same age as Sophie—and two men. One sits close beside one of the women, and I’d guess married couple.
